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20 November 2009 Dear Sponsors, Our recent trip to Haiti (September 28 – October 14) was an overwhelming success! We were able to process 782 children on this trip – almost 100 more children than we’ve ever done in one visit! For the few of you whose children were absent from school, we will put your children on our list of children to see when we return to Haiti again in March. We had a total of 24 team members from Maine, Utah and California on October team. Because we had so many people interested in joining this team, we divided the team into two groups. One group came for the first week of the trip and then went home while the second group was coming into Haiti for the second week of the trip. There were also 4 team members who stayed for the duration of our visit. We hope to have photos from this trip posted to the “trip photos” page on the web site soon. There are photos of many children waiting for a sponsor on the “child in need” page of our web site. Please help us spread the word about these waiting children. Word of mouth is really the best way to get others involved in helping! On this trip we updated the following schools – the Center of Protection and the Secondary School in Terrier Rouge, Paulette, Phaeton, Danda and Trou du Nord. In March we plan to update the following schools – the Primary School in Terrier Rouge, Ouvray, Juchereau and Roche Platte. Our next trip to Haiti is scheduled for March 10 - 24, 2010 and there are already many people who are interested in joining this team. I want to share with you about another opportunity we have to help with a program we’re calling A Kid for a Kid. Pastor Elima Etienne in Danda is running a project which provides a goat to a child and their family. In a nutshell, ownership of a goat not only teaches a child valuable life skills but it can also provide food and income for a family. At maturity, the goat can reproduce once or twice a year. Selling the goat’s offspring can provide much-needed income for the family and the mother goat will provide a supply of healthy goat’s milk. When a child receives a goat through this program, they are required to give the first offspring the goat produces back to Pastor Elima who will give it to another child and their family. After that, the goat belongs to the child and their family without any further commitment. The cost of providing a child with a goat is just $40.00. If you or anyone you know is interested in helping out with this project, please let us know. We hope to have photos and information about the Kid for a Kid project on our website soon. We have also started another project for sponsorship of the teachers in the school in Terrier Rouge. Sponsoring a teacher helps to pay their salary which frees up more of the limited funds of the school so more can be done for the children and to continue with the school construction. Sponsorship fees for teachers, aides and administrators range from $50 per month up to $150 per month. While we recognize that this amount may be more than most individuals could do on their own, it would make a great project for a church or a small group, a Christian school, civic group or a business. If you or anyone you know is interested in this project, please let us know. Again, we hope to have photos and information about the Sponsor a Teacher project on our website soon. In January we will start a new billing system. With this new system, you will receive an annual statement in January which will outline what your total sponsorship payments will be for the entire year. In an on-going effort to reduce our administrative costs, we will not be sending out reminders when each payment is due unless it appears that you have forgotten to send in your payment by January 15 and August 15, when they are due. As you make your sponsorship payments in January and again in August these payments will be applied to your annual sponsorship pledge. Or if you prefer to pay for the full year at one time you may certainly do so. Whichever way you choose to pay will be fine and all sponsorship payments will be applied to your annual sponsorship pledge. If you wish to see a copy of your statement at any time during the year you can request a copy and we will be happy to send it to you. At the end of the year we will send you an end-of-year statement which will show what you have paid for your sponsorships (and any other financial gifts you make) throughout the year. This end-of-year statement will serve as your receipt for tax purposes and we will not be sending receipts for each sponsorship payment as it is made – only the end-of-year statement. Some of our sponsors have asked if they can set up automatic payments from either their credit or debit card or with a direct funds transfer from their bank account. We are currently working on setting up this option through PayPal. If you would be interested in this service, please send us an e-mail and let us know so we can notify you when we have the service ready. The His Hands for Africa website is finally up and running - www.hishandsforafrica.org! If you haven’t already done so, please go there and check it out and let us know what you think! There are many children in the Africa program who are also waiting for a sponsor and the children in the Congo in particular are still in desperate need. Please help us spread the word about these waiting children! In August of this year we made a trip to the country of Guatemala to explore the possibility of a new partnership with a pastor in San Lucas, Guatemala – Pastor Merari Rodriguez. The end result of this trip is that we will be starting His Hands for Guatemala either in late December 2009 or early January 2010! We will be working with Pastor Merari along with Pastor Mario Mendez to begin a Child Sponsorship Program for their Fuente de Esperanza school project in the rural community of El Membrillal in the mountains of Guatemala outside the community of Magdalena. The children in the school will receive not only an education but also a light breakfast and lunch each school day along with basic medical care. While the sponsorship fee for these children is not yet determined, we do know that it will be a monthly commitment. This project will be starting small – just 25 children – but we hope to include new communities as Pastor Merari and his church reach out to other smaller communities in their area. We have a return trip to Guatemala planned from December 10 – 14 with a team of just 5 people to gather the necessary information on the first 25 children to be put into this new program. We will certainly keep you posted as things progress! As the holidays are swiftly approaching, we have prepared a sheet with suggested gift-giving ideas which you will find enclosed with this newsletter. If you’re anything like me, I’m sure there are people on your gift list that are difficult to buy for. If you’re struggling to decide what to do for someone on your list, have a look at the gift-giving ideas we’ve outlined there. If you find something you would like to do just let us know. You can contact us either by using the e-mail address on the gift idea sheet or by using the e-mail address on this letter. Or, if you prefer, you can contact us via regular mail. We greatly appreciate your interest in the needs of the children of Haiti. We look forward in anticipation of how God will continue to use us to help the children of Haiti, the children of the Great Lakes region of Africa, and now the children of Guatemala as we keep walking in the good works He has prepared for us. Thank you so much for your part in this ministry and thank you for your continued prayer and support. For Him and for the children, Jamie Charles Child Sponsorship Coordinator |
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